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Opened in December 2004, the RIU chain of hotels bought the previous named Sheraton Grand hotel and renovated it into an all-inclusive paradise opening onto a 5km stretch of sandy white beach.
Adjacent to Atlantis Hotel, the RIU is a 14-story high-rise hotel, which is able to offer a view of the ocean from nearly every single room. The floor layout is a straight building with rooms facing water and inland, where the front set of rooms face straight onto the waterfront, while rest of the rooms face inland, but with a perfectly fine diagonal view of the water. Many of the rooms also offer balconies. We were in a room with a balcony that face inland on the 14th floor and were very happy with our view. The hotel rooms are a decent size and modestly furnished. A liquor dispenser and mini fridge are available and filled as need be.
On arrival, a welcome drink is offered in the fine and spacious lobby amongst palm trees and tropical flora. The pool is adequate and has a swim up bar, and the stretch of beach the resort attaches to is beautiful; much better than the beach at Atlantis.
On top of the standard buffet, three restaurants (Steakhouse, Gourmet a la carte, Japanese) are available but reservations are required. For reservations, be prepared to wake up early, like 7am (although I read this may have changed since we went) and also spend some time in line because others sacrifice their sleep for a good meal. We only went to the Steakhouse, but our meal was very delicious. The buffets offered provided a wide amount of options and were of good quality, but the reservation restaurants do offer quite a bit better quality in food.
A nightclub is also available at nights but when we went there was not too much action, but it is still a nice way to relax at night with a drink, either inside or on the outdoor terrace overlooking the pool and ocean.
The RIU is much more modest than Atlantis, but the smaller size allows for a more friendlier atmosphere and manageable use of the services offered. The differences in price between the two can also be quite different depending on the type of room and time of year you go. The facilities of Atlantis, including the casino, are less than a 5-minute walk away.
This hotel can hold a good amount of people and given that, sometimes during certain times of the day specific areas felt crowded. The pool area can be busy especially around the pool where people grab lawn chairs and tan. Also, we found this resort catered to a lot of families with children, which sometimes interfered with our relaxation times. The buffets can also be packed with people.
Also for a 14-storey building only three elevators are offered which do NOT move at lightning speed, so expect a little wait time. For the top floor, only one elevator services the floor, which makes waiting a bit annoying. We ended up taking any elevator to the 13th floor and then walking the one flight of stairs.
Overall though, this hotel fits your expectations of an all-inclusive Bahamas getaway. If you are looking for something a little more extravagant then Atlantis may be worth a look, but if you want to stay within a budget, than the RIU is probably your best bet.
Last updated: March 2005
